Flight Safety Information May 2, 2017 - No. 088 Incident: KLM B773 near Hong Kong on May 2nd 2017, engine failure Incident: Skywest CRJ2 at Chicago on May 1st 2017, smoke in cabin Incident: Spirit A320 near Kansas City on Apr 30th 2017, unknown odour in cockpit Cessna 208B Grand Caravan CFIT Accident (Colombia) MBB BK 117-A3 Forced Ditching (New Zealand) West Air (China) passes IATA safety audit. PAF training jet crashes near Jhang Amsterdam's Schiphol airport nears 'safety limits' MAS aircraft tyres deflated after KLIA landing, runway closed 2 Mooneys Airplane Models Get an Upgrade These Indian pilots don't want to fly with their expat colleagues The Air Force Plans to Fly 100-Year-Old Planes Avionica Supplies e-Enablement for Icelandair's B737MAX Aircraft Aviation Technologies signs agreement with Chinese university SpaceShipTwo tests feather system on latest glide flight Graduate Research Survey -2. Graduate Research Survey Request-3 Incident: KLM B773 near Hong Kong on May 2nd 2017, engine failure A KLM Boeing 777-300, registration PH-BVA performing flight KL-808 from Taipei (Taiwan) to Amsterdam (Netherlands), had just step climbed from 9200 (~FL300) to 9500 meters (~FL311) when the crew reported the failure of the right hand engine (GE90). The crew decided to divert to Hong Kong, entered a hold at 9000 feet to dump fuel and landed safely on Hong Kong's runway 07R about 70 minutes after leaving 9500 meters. The crew requested emergency services to inspect the right hand engine before any door of the aircraft was opened and advised they had now shut down the engine. Emergency services reported the #2 engine appeared normal. The crew subsequently advised, passengers would disembark normally. The airline reported a technical problem prompted the diversion to Hong Kong. Passengers reported the crew explained they had an engine failure and therefore diverted to Hong Kong. http://avherald.com/h?article=4a8660d5&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Skywest CRJ2 at Chicago on May 1st 2017, smoke in cabin A Skywest Canadair CRJ-200 on behalf of American Airlines, registration N866AS performing flight OO- 2936/AA-2936 from Chicago O'Hare,IL to Cedar Rapids,IA (USA) with 54 people on board, was climbing out of Chicago when the crew stopped the climb at 6000 feet reporting smoke in the cabin and diverted to Chicago DuPage Airport for a safe landing about 10 minutes after departure. Passengers reported almost immediately after becoming airborne haze occurred in the cabin, the flight attendant initially attempted to calm them down advising this was only mist, however there was also a clear smell of smoke. Shortly thereafter the passengers noticed the aircraft was maneouvering to land. The FAA reported the aircraft diverted to DuPage Airport reporting smoke in the cockpit. The remainder of the flight was cancelled. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW2936/history/20170501/1330Z/KORD/KCID http://avherald.com/h?article=4a8656a6&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Spirit A320 near Kansas City on Apr 30th 2017, unknown odour in cockpit A Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration N636NK performing flight NK-551 from Akron-Canton,OH to Las Vegas,NV (USA) with 171 people on board, was enroute at FL360 about 150nm northwest of Kansas City,MO (USA) when the crew detected an unknown odour in the cockpit, donned their oxygen masks and diverted to Kansas City for a safe landing about 35 minutes later. The airline reported an unknown odour prompted the crew to don their oxygen masks in compliance with standard operating procedures and divert to Kansas City, the flight crew also released the passenger oxygen masks. Maintenance identified a faulty fan in the cockpit causing the odour. A replacement Airbus A320-200 registration N607NK reached Las Vegas with a delay of 4:20 hours. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NKS551/history/20170430/2215Z/KCAK/KLAS http://avherald.com/h?article=4a86548c&opt=0 Back to Top Cessna 208B Grand Caravan CFIT Accident (Colombia) Date: Monday 1 May 2017 Time: 16:30 Type: Cessna 208B Grand Caravan Operator: Ejército Nacional de Colombia Registration: EJC-1130 C/n / msn: 208B-1194 First flight: 2006 Engines: 1 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A Crew: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 Passengers: Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 Total: Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 Airplane damage: Destroyed Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Facatativá ( Colombia) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Military Departure airport: Melgar-Tolemaida Air Base (SKTI), Colombia Destination airport: Bogotá-Eldorado Airport (BOG/SKBO), Colombia Narrative: The Cessna 208B Grand Caravan impacted a hillside between Zipacón and Facatativá, Colombia. This is about 24 km northwest of the Bogotá Airport. All eight occupants died in the crash. Sources: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20170501-0 Back to Top MBB BK 117-A3 Forced Ditching (New Zealand) Date: 02-MAY-2017 Time: ~11:30 LT Type: MBB BK 117-A3 Owner/operator: Heliforce Registration: ZK-IED C/n / msn: 7059 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Substantial Location: Pauatahanui Inlet, Porirua Harbour, N of Wellington - New Zealand Phase: En route Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Motukaraka Point Destination airport: Narrative: While carrying under slung telegraph poles The pilot was forced to ditch his aircraft in the waters of Porirua Harbour after a vibration developed and a loss of tail rotor control developed. A witness reported the cable had broken and contacted the tail rotor. The pilot struggled to undo his harness and egressed from underwater. Back to Top West Air (China) passes IATA safety audit 29 April 2017 The Chinese low-cast airline West Air passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). The airline commenced operations in 2010 and operates a fleet of four Airbus A319's, and 23 Airbus A320's. It services some 18 cities in China out of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, as well international destinations in Japan, Philippines and Singapore. The airline's parent company, Hainan Airlines, is also an IOSA registered airline. The IOSA programme is an evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. IOSA uses internationally recognised quality audit principles and is designed to conduct audits in a standardised and consistent manner. It was created in 2003 by IATA. All IATA members are IOSA registered and must remain registered to maintain IATA membership. https://news.aviation-safety.net/2017/04/29/west-air-china-passes-iata-safety-audit/ Back to Top PAF training jet crashes near Jhang Pakistan Air Force's Mirage aircraft. PHOTO: FILE A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) training jet crashed in the wee hours of Tuesday morning near Jhang, Express News reported. The Mirage was on routine training when it crashed in the Athara Hazari area. The pilot safely ejected the aircraft when it was about to crash, said a PAF spokesperson. No loss of life was reported. Two killed as training aircraft crashes in Faisalabad Earlier in February, a Shaheen Air Flying Training School aircraft had also crashed in Faisalabad, killing the instructor and the trainee pilot. The aircraft was completely destroyed as a result of the crash. According to reports, the plane took off at 12:40, 15 minutes after which it crashed due to a technical fault. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Rescue 1122 official Faisal Zia said, "The captain, Ahmed Hassaan, and Moaz bin Asad died on the spot." In April this year, Pakistan Army's Mushshak aircraft had crash-landed in Painda Khan village of Mattani, on the outskirts of Peshawar. Police said the trainer aircraft was on a routine flight when it's engine developed a technical fault, and the pilot had no option but to crash-land. A security official said the pilot remained safe, with only a little damage to the aircraft. https://tribune.com.pk/story/1398883/paf-training-jet-crashes-near-jhang/ Back to Top Amsterdam's Schiphol airport nears 'safety limits' Amsterdam's rapidly growing Schiphol airport is reaching its limits for the safe movement of planes on its busy airstrips, the Dutch safety watchdog warned recently, saying runway risks needed to be addressed before any further expansion. "The boundaries to safely conclude air traffic movements are approaching," the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) said in a report. "There are no indications that the airport is unsafe at this point, but stakeholders need to act to reduce the safety risks," the OVV said in the 215-page report. The aviation hub is now one of the top five busiest in Europe. Last year, some 63.6 million passengers passed through Schiphol, up from 58 million in 2015, according to airport figures. There were 479,000 aircraft movements around Schiphol's five main runways in 2016, the airport said in a separate report last year. The safety watchdog launched a probe after "several incidents over the last few years", it said, including so-called "runway incursions" when a plane, person or other object is on a runway without authorisation, planes taking off from taxiways, or taking off or landing without permission from air traffic control. Included in the investigation was the 2009 Turkish Airlines crash that killed nine people and injured 120 others. The Boeing 737-800 from Istanbul to Amsterdam crashed on approach on Feb 23 that year, which the OVV later mainly blamed on a faulty altimeter, but also on pilot error. The OVV warned no further expansion could take place at Schiphol unless safety issues are dealt with. "Before any decision can be taken about the expansion of Schiphol, the risks in and around the airport need to be addressed," it said. Cheaper airfares "A fundamental discussion is needed about the future of Dutch aviation ... for which the Dutch state needs to take responsibility," the OVV said. The airport last year concluded that "we will reach the agreed limits of growth at Schiphol sooner than expected, probably as early as 2017." It said it had agreed to limit air transport movements to a maximum of 500,000 by 2020. "The unexpectedly strong growth in passenger numbers in 2016 may have something to do with the fact that Schiphol is now nearing that limit," the airport said, citing factors such as globalisation and cheaper airfares as some of the main reasons. http://www.star2.com/travel/europe/2017/05/02/amsterdam-schiphol-airport- safety/#qUfz5dFWdrxbvgi4.99 Back to Top MAS aircraft tyres deflated after KLIA landing, runway closed Malaysia Airlines says one of its aircraft suffered two deflated tyres after landing at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Sepang May 2, 2017. - File pic SEPANG, May 2 - Malaysia Airlines flight MH726 from Jakarta has two of its tyres deflated after landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today. The 7.13am incident, involving a Boeing 738 aircraft, has caused the Runway 2 at KLIA to be closed. Malaysia Airlines in a statement today said passengers and crew in the aircraft had safely disembarked and were transferred to the terminal by bus. The airline also said that the baggage was also sent to the terminal by bus. "Runway 2 at KLIA will be closed until further notice," it said. Malaysia Airlines said it would be investigating the cause of the incident. "Due to aircraft shortage, some flights utilising this aircraft will be upgraded to be operated by the Airbus 330 aircraft and we are looking into deploying the Airbus 380 aircraft to service the Australian routes," it said. The airline assured that safety is Malaysia Airlines' number one priority at all times and expressed regrets for the inconvenience caused to passengers. http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/mas-aircraft-tyres-deflated-after- klia-landing-runway-closed#sthash.puf2dIZe.dpuf Back to Top 2 Mooneys Airplane Models Get an Upgrade Mooney's fast single-engine airplanes, with their distinctive backward tails and all-metal cabins, each of them hand-built in Kerrville, Texas, have maintained their popularity for decades, with essentially the same design. But this year, the two Mooneys, the Acclaim and Ovation, both got an overhaul, keeping their well-loved classic features while adding new technology and user-friendliness. Key to the upgrade is the addition of a second door, to make it easier to load pilot and passengers in and out of the cabin. Both doors are four inches wider than the old passenger-side-only door. The classic all-metal fuselage has been updated with modern composites, strong and lightweight, that wrap the cabin's steel safety cage and help to reduce interior noise levels. The new features come with no added weight or loss of safety margins, the company says. An all-new sporty interior design seats four in hand-stitched Italian leather seats, and provides a new center console and plentiful cup holders. Garmin G1000 NXi glass-panel avionics compile all the data a pilot needs. Both models feature retractable gear. Tucking away the wheels in flight aids speed and efficiency, but requires that pilots get signed off on the gear operation by a certified flight instructor. The $769,000 M20V Acclaim Ultra comes with a twin-turbocharged Continental TSIO 550- G engine, while the $689,000 M20U Ovation Ultra comes with the same engine, but normally aspirated. The performance difference is substantial-the Ovation will cruise at speeds up to 227 mph for up to 1,265 miles, while the Acclaim gets you as far as 1,425 miles at 278 mph. (mooney.com) https://robbreport.com/aviation/2-mooneys-airplane-models-get-upgrade Back to Top These Indian pilots don't want to fly with their expat colleagues Start-up founder calls company 'Uber of the skies' Pilots at one of India's biggest airlines could stop flying with their expat colleagues because they're paid less. The National Aviators Guild, a labor union representing more than 1,000 Indian pilots at Jet Airways, says it is taking a stand against discrimination. It says Indian pilots have to work longer hours for lower wages than pilots hired by the airline from overseas. "[Expat pilots] work for eight weeks and get two weeks off," NAG President D. Balaraman told CNNMoney. "They're trying to make us work for 11 weeks to get the two weeks off, which we feel is unfair." The union had directed its members to stop sharing a cockpit with the airline's expat pilots from Monday. It called off that strike over the weekend after being promised talks this week with airline management. The threat of a strike hasn't gone away entirely and will depend on the outcome of those negotiations. Jet Airways says it has to hire expats at a higher cost because Indian pilots won't fly certain aircraft in its fleet, such as Boeing 737s and ATR regional turboprops. An airline spokesperson said it had to cover gaps caused by a shortage of skilled Indian pilots "many of whom do not regard [those aircraft] as a preferred career option." According to the airline, only about 8% of its 2,000 pilots are expats. The spokesperson added that Jet Airways had hired more than 400 Indian pilots in the past 16 months. Expat pilots are employed by several airlines in India, where the aviation industry is growing at almost 20% per year and could become the world's third-largest by 2020. According to government figures cited by local media, around 400 of India's 6,300 pilots come from overseas. Expat pilots are also in demand elsewhere in Asia: China has been offering staggering six- figure salaries for foreign pilots willing to come fly in the country. But some have attracted controversy recently, inflaming the dispute at Jet Airways. One expat pilot at the airline was accused of assaulting a company trainer last month, while another made headlines for allegedly racially and physically abusing passengers. Jet Airways said "action has been taken" against the first pilot, while the claims about the second expat pilot were being investigated. For now at least, the Indian pilots are ready to sit down and talk about continuing to work with their better paid colleagues. "We will discuss it, then only we can decide [a] further course of action," Balaraman said. "We are trying to improve our working conditions, which we want a little bit similar to the expats." http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/01/news/india/india-jet-airways-expat-pilots-strike/ Back to Top The Air Force Plans to Fly 100-Year-Old Planes Behind the front-line warplanes is a fleet of aging jets, including one designed over a single weekend in a hotel room during the Cold War. Since we have an administration with a proclivity to drop bombs, very big bombs, this seems like a good time to talk about bombs, and how they are dropped. The United States Air Force has a lot of bombs, of many kinds. On the face of it, they are a modern force, conveying fearsome power. Look behind that impression, however, and there is an astonishing story of aging airplanes and a very expensive effort to keep them flying for as long as 100 years-in fact, the first ever warplanes to be in service for a whole century. This only-in-America story really begins in a suite at the Van Cleve Hotel in Dayton, Ohio, on a weekend in October 1948. The Boeing company faced a crisis. For two years they had been trying unsuccessfully to meet a demand from the U.S. Air Force for a new strategic bomber. It was a dangerous time in the Cold War. The Soviet Union was a year away from detonating its first atomic bomb. In order to checkmate the Soviet threat America needed a deterrent to demonstrate that it could deliver its own nuclear bombs anywhere and at any time from a fleet of bombers. Curiously, the Air Force was insisting that the new bomber should not be a jet but propeller-powered-even though the new Strategic Air Command was already flying a revolutionary Boeing jet, the B-47. To carry a new generation of nuclear weapons they wanted an airplane twice the size of the B-47, and no jet of such a size had yet been attempted. Then, suddenly, in meetings at an air base near Dayton, the Air Force told Boeing that the new bomber should be a jet. Holed up in the Dayton hotel suite were two engineers who had transformed Boeing from a pre-war minor player to a wartime and post-war behemoth in military aviation: Ed Wells, the chief designer, and George Schairer, a visionary who in 1945 had discovered some of Nazi Germany's most advanced aerodynamic research and put it to use in the B- 47, which was twice as fast as any other bomber in the world. Wells and Schairer called four other Boeing engineers to the suite. Schairer took one of these out to a hobby store to buy balsa wood, glue, and model paint. Back in the hotel, as Wells drew the outlines of a new bomber, he called out its dimensions and Schairer carved and assembled it from the balsa as a 120th scale model-the scale was chosen because Wells was using a 12-inch ruler and 1 inch of the model represented 10 feet of the actual airplane. The model was boxed up and sent to the Pentagon together with a dossier drawn up by Wells and Schairer that predicted the bomber's capabilities. In April 1952, that airplane made its first flight from a Boeing plant in Seattle. It was called the B-52 and its performance came within a whisker of the numbers calculated in the Van Cleve Hotel-in some respects better. Astoundingly, the B-52 is still the backbone of the Air Force's strategic bombing fleet. Even though there are far more advanced bombers, the B-1 and a small unit of B-2 stealth bombers, it is the B-52 that flies most frequently and acts as a kind of airborne artillery barrage, capable of carpet-bombing on a terrifying scale (though, apparently, not of dropping the Mother of All Bombs deployed this month in Afghanistan). The Air Force plans to keep its B-52 fleet flying for another 30 years. And that is not all. To keep those bombers operational they also need to maintain another venerable jet, the KC-135 tanker that allows the bombers to stay aloft on long missions by refueling them in flight. General Carlton Everhart, commander of Air Mobility Command that operates the KC-135 fleet, told an air warfare conference in March that the tankers could be 100 years old before they are retired. No other military airplane anywhere in the world is going to be anything like that old and still flying. Six days after the B-52's first flight, Wells and Schairer presented Boeing's board with a breathtaking idea: a passenger jet that would fly twice as fast as any existing propeller- driven airliner. But first they would get the government to pay for the development of the jet by producing it as a new generation of tanker to service the B-52s. At its own expense, Boeing produced a single prototype (it cost $16 million but by writing off the cost against taxes the actual cost was only $5 million). The Air Force bought the proposal and the KC-135 emerged from the prototype, which then later morphed into the legendary 707 airliner. It was a very smart two-for-one deal based on a relatively small investment, maybe the smartest deal the company ever made. As a result, the 707 established Boeing's supremacy in passenger jets and the KC-135 became a perennial milk cow. The last KC- 135 was delivered to the Air Force in 1965. The Air Force only began seriously looking for a replacement in 2001. What followed for more than a decade demonstrated everything that is wrong about the military procurement process: conflicting pressures from politicians with vested local interests in production plants; international free traders versus protectionists; ever-shifting Air Force requirements; and over-optimistic estimates of the cost. In 2008 the Air Force awarded the contract to the European Airbus consortium for a military version of its A-330 passenger jet. According to an Air Force source, Airbus beat a rival bid from Boeing "by a mile." Boeing cried foul. The Government Accounting Office intervened and found corruption in the Pentagon, concluding that procurement officers had misled Boeing on the criteria that their airplane had to meet. When the contest was resumed in 2011 Boeing won, with a version of its venerable 767 jetliner. At that point the Air Force ordered 179 new tankers at a total price of $35 billion. That has now risen to $52 billion, and Boeing is so behind in delivering the first batch of 18 airplanes that it has incurred $1.75 billion in overrun costs. (The Airbus tanker has been operational for several years and has been adopted by the Air Forces of 10 nations, including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, France, and Spain.) In fact, Boeing's poor performance on this contract is widely believed to have cost them the contract for the Air Force's next major investment, the B-21 long-range strike bomber. Northrup Grumman beat out Boeing on a deal that could eventually be worth $80 billion. The Cold War ideas of strategic bombing that gave birth to the B-52 are obsolete (Strategic Air Command has become Global Strike Command). Technically the B-52 remains part of the nuclear triad (along with the B-2), able to carry and drop nuclear weapons, but it is impossible to see how or where they could still be used in that role. The B-52 can be used only against adversaries that don't have sophisticated air defense systems, like ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban, and nuking them is unthinkable. (That is, to any sane person.) For sure, the B-52's weapons bay has been upgraded so that it can deploy laser-guided conventional smart bombs, but the bomber's most effective use is probably psychological: that it can still serve as it did during the Vietnam War as that bluntest of blunt instruments-the carpet bomber-or, in the vernacular of Trump, to bomb the crap out of adversaries. The opportunity for that is very limited if you have to worry about collateral damage, i.e., killing lots of innocent bystanders. However, age does bring one benefit. Despite other upgrades the B-52's underlying structure remains as it was designed in the 1950s. As a result it is far simpler to maintain than the B-1 and B-2. Seventy-two percent of the 76-strong force is mission ready at all times. In contrast the B-2 stealth bomber is so complex to maintain and so tricky to operate that its mission readiness is the lowest in the Air Force, only 46 percent of the 20- strong force. (It is the only bomber equipped to deliver the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, otherwise known as the "bunker buster" that would be required to strike underground nuclear facilities, such as in North Korea or Iran.) Now, to give the B-52s yet another lease on life the Air Force is on the verge of spending up to $4 billion on re-equipping them with new engines. The existing engines are "dirty burners" with appalling emissions impact, expensive to service, and so old that at least one has actually fallen off the airplane. But the idea that these bombers will still have any purpose by 2050 seems bizarre. The only other powers committed to future bomber fleets are Russia and China. Northrop Grumman's B-21 is intended to surpass anything those nations can produce, but warfare technology moves ahead far more nimbly than traditional Pentagon procurement programs. It's not even certain that the B-21 will need a crew on board. It could be operated remotely from Kansas like a drone. And it's more than likely that a whole array of unmanned aircraft, small and relatively cheap to produce, will end the age of the big bomber for good. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/01/the-air-force-plans-to-fly-100-year- old-planes Back to Top Avionica Supplies e-Enablement for Icelandair's B737MAX Aircraft MIAMI - April 30, 2017 - Avionica, Inc. has been contracted by Icelandair to provide products and services to e-Enable Icelandair's 16 new B737MAX aircraft. Beginning this year and continuing through 2019 when final aircraft deliveries are made, Icelandair will install Avionica's e-Enabled avionics that include satLINK MAX Iridium satellite communications system and aviONS Onboard Network Server. "Avionica's integrated e-Enablement solution allows Icelandair to deploy an advanced e- Enablement system at a fraction of the OEM catalog price. By using avSYNC service, Icelandair will save more than USD$4 million in hardware and communications services on the new 737MAX fleet," said Bragi Baldursson, Head of Design for Icelandair. Avionica's solution for Icelandair includes: ˇ satLINK MAX Iridium satellite communications system ˇ aviONS Onboard Network Server ˇ avCM 4G cellular device ˇ avSYNC QAR download satLINK MAX is the industry's only 4-channel, FANS-1/A and ATC Voice Safety Service approved Iridium SATCOM system. The multitude of Iridium channels enables Icelandair to maximize e-Enabled aircraft connectivity without restricting critical Voice and FANS-1/A safety services. aviONS provides an open-platform network solution supporting airline and third party e- Enablement systems. aviONS enhances airborne connectivity with global 4G Cellular using avCM and aviONS's WiFi connectivity for crew wireless applications including efficient in- flight reporting of cabin discrepancies. To manage connectivity, Avionica's avSYNC global data transfer network provides automated data transfer between aircraft and their operation center. As Icelandair's e- Enabled aircraft focus is efficiency, avSYNC's ability to automate data synchronization of onboard applications would become a key component of its strategy. "We are very proud to continue our partnership with Icelandair in challenging the industry with better flight data and communications solutions. Icelandair's confidence in Avionica's e-Enablement and global communications solution as an alternative to costly catalog options is a testament to the exceptional value Avionica continues to deliver for Icelandair,"said Avionica Vice President of Sales, Anthony Rios. Headquartered in Miami for 25 years, Avionica is the world's leading aircraft data collection and data transmission manufacturer, designing and producing innovative, safety-qualified, state-of-the-art solutions that are revolutionizing air transportation. For more information, please visit www.avionica.com. http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12330295/avionica-supplies-e-enablement- for-icelandairs-b737max-aircraft Back to Top Aviation Technologies signs agreement with Chinese university CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Aviation Technologies program and Shenyang Aerospace University (SAU) in China will begin an articulation agreement in fall 2018. The 2+2 project, approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education, will likely bring 50 to 60 students to Carbondale beginning in 2020. The academic concentrations will be on avionics and maintenance with a goal to recruit 150 students. Students who stay in China will receive the Shenyang Aerospace University degree; those who come to SIU will receive a bachelor's degree in aviation technologies with a specialization in avionics from SIU Carbondale. Andy Wang, dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, said. "Considering a growing student population from Saudi Arabia in our aviation programs, this new international development with SAU will dramatically increase the diversity of our aviation student body as well as help strengthen the quality of our aviation programs." Wang noted that the college sponsored Ping Liu, a visiting scholar, from SAU last year. Wang said that he expects more faculty exchanges and research collaboration between the two universities in the future. SIU Carbondale entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Shenyang Aerospace University in 2013. Typically, about 40 percent of students enrolled in articulation programs between Chinese and American universities will take classes in the United States, Yi Lee, international partnership coordinator with SIU Carbondale's Center for International Education, said. While the program's first class of freshmen will be on the China campus in 2018, recruitment efforts are beginning, Lee said. The university is working on course articulations so that college credits earned in China will transfer to SIU's program. Lee added that Shenyang Aerospace University has also secured Chinese Ministry of Education Scholarships to send tuition paying non-degree seeking exchange students to SIU Carbondale in fall 2018. As part of the agreement, SAU in the future will require SIU Carbondale aviation instructors to go to China and teach during the summer. The program will run for six years with the possibility to renew, as long as the program passes Chinese education ministry review during the midpoint of the agreement, Lee said. The project is the same model used for two other programs now on campus, Lee said. About 30 accounting students started last year with another 40 students planned to be on campus next year, he said. Eleven students from Dalian Jiaotong University (DJTU) are now on campus in SIU's mechanical and civil engineering programs with another 15 students expected from DJTU this fall. Michael Burgener, chair of SIU's Department of Aviation Technologies, is excited about the agreement, which will build enrollment in the program. Enrollment is now at about 150 students, he said. This agreement, along with one involving the avionics program with Saudi Arabian Airlines, could double the number of students in SIU's program in a few years, Burgener said. About 10 students from Saudi Arabia who are now on campus and in the Center for English as a Second Language program will start work toward their avionics certificates in June, he said. http://news.siu.edu/2017/05/050117par17071.php Back to Top SpaceShipTwo tests feather system on latest glide flight SapceShipTwo glides to a landing at the Mojave Air and Space Port May 1 after testing its feather system. Credit: Virgin Galactic WASHINGTON - Virgin Galactic said May 1 it successfully tested the system on its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle that permits a safe reentry on the vehicle's latest unpowered test flight. The glide flight, which took place in the skies above the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, was the fourth free flight of the second SpaceShipTwo, named VSS Unity, all performed without a rocket engine on board. The previous glide flight was Feb. 24. On this test, SpaceShipTwo pilots Mark Stucky and Mike Masucci engaged the vehicle's "feather" system, which raises the spaceplane's twin tail booms, after release from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. The pilots then lowered the tail booms into their regular configuration and glided to a runway landing in Mojave. "Full analysis of the data from today's flight will, as always, take time; but initial reports from the pilots and from mission control are extremely encouraging," the company said in a post-flight statement. The feather test is the latest milestone in the testing program for the vehicle. "The feather will be raised at lower altitudes - and consequently thicker atmosphere - than would be the case during a full mission to space," the company said before the flight. "This will provide a rigorous test of the feather system in the air, complementing extensive testing already completed on the ground." The feather system, designed to provide a stable configuration during reentry, was also linked to the October 2014 accident that destroyed the first SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise, during a powered test flight. On that flight, vehicle co-pilot Michael Alsbury prematurely unlocked the feather system while the vehicle was accelerating through the sound barrier. The aerodynamic forces on the vehicle cased the feather to deploy, leading to the vehicle's breakup. Alsbury was killed in the accident and vehicle pilot Peter Siebold was injured. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that Scaled Composites, which built the first SpaceShipTwo, failed to consider the possibility that a pilot might prematurely unlock the feather and thus took no steps to prevent it. The new SpaceShipTwo includes a locking system that prevents the feather from being unlocked during the early phases of powered flight. Virgin Galactic has not disclosed a detailed test flight schedule, but company officials said they expect to need on the order of ten glide flights to meet all their test objectives before moving on to powered test flights. The exact number of glide flights will depend on how quickly they reach those test objectives. Once the glide flights are complete, the company will move ahead to powered test flights, using the hybrid rocket motor on the spaceplane. "We have started the glide flight program, and we will continue that for the next few months, and then we'll get into powered flight over the course of the year," George Whitesides, chief executive of Galactic Ventures, which includes Virgin Galactic, said at a February conference. "We aspire to push far into the test flight program during the course of 2017." If all goes well, that's expected to permit commercial flights to begin in 2018. However, in an April 28 on-stage interview, Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson declined to commit to a schedule for beginning commercial flights. "I've made the mistake of giving dates before and being wrong," he said. http://spacenews.com/spaceshiptwo-tests-feather-system-on-latest-glide- flight/#sthash.cWyd1Anh.dpuf Back to Top Graduate Research Survey Dear colleagues, The flight crew of an airliner is expected to exhibit very high levels of decision making, all the time. Disasters are often attributed to poor decision making skills that are rigorously scrutinised after the event but a good decision never faces similar depth of review. I am doing a research on this very topic and need your help with a short anonymous survey. The primary objectives of this survey are to evaluate: 1. How pilots make decisions in a time and safety critical situation. 2. Whether there are any comparisons with other professionals facing similar time and safety pressures. The survey can be completed here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/7TKJ66K Can you spare a few moments to take my survey? www.surveymonkey.co.uk Please take the survey titled "Anonymous Survey- Decision making in a time and safety critical environment.City University of London naveed.kapadia@city.ac.uk". Your feedback is important! Thank you for your help and support with this research. Naveed MSc student at City University of London Back to Top Graduate Research Survey Request My name is Mohamed Sheryenna. I'm a student at the University of South wales (UK), MSc. Aircraft Maintenance System. I'm conducting this research about Importance of Implementation SMS to Aircraft Maintenance: For reducing accidents. This study would look to understand the approaches and benefits of implementation SMS in Aircraft maintenance organization to reduce risk of accidents or at least mitigate it by identify and manage risks in predictive phase. Moreover, the study sought to determine the influence of the organizational culture and its effective on maintenance. In addition, to assess some tools used by SMS to support maintenance and engineering to obtain optimal aircraft maintenance. Ultimately, the effectiveness of an SMS implementation means the organization can manage the complexity of these mechanisms to defend against risk incubation. All the information will be treated confidentially and reported in the aggregate. The resultant data will be analyzed as part of my master degree's thesis. I will strictly respect the confidentiality of all participants' input. If you are a participant, and if you desire, I will provide you with a copy of the outcomes of my study. Please return the survey with your business card or contact information to indicate your interest in receiving a copy of the results. I would greatly appreciate your input to my survey. I realize that you are very busy; and completion of the survey should require not more than 10 minutes of your time. These questionnaires are intended to explore SMS in Aircraft maintenance and are purely for academic purpose. Your participation in this research will be highly appreciated. please click the link below to go through the survey http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/8YYUA/ Thank you very much for your cooperation. Sincerely yours, Mohamed Sheryenna 15050033@students.southwales.ac.uk Tel. 00447459876975 Curt Lewis